Should I make the switch to driving?

Remember when I was hit by a car? Yeah… Since then, I’ve been seriously considering buying a car. I don’t make a lot of money and I’m terribly cheap but, there has to be a point in your life when you say “the money isn’t worth this hassle”.

Like Daisy did years ago, I ran a pro/con list of whether or not I should have a car:

Pros

I would save soooo much time getting to work — over 30 minutes, each day, in each direction. Using very basic math, this means that I can save about 6h of my life each week

Freedom! I would be able to go to the farmer’s market, the grocery store, Dollarama, the mall all without having to wait for the bus, transfer to the train, etc.

There are so. many. pedestrians hit by cars in Calgary. To be honest, I’m quite nervous at certain intersections, solely because drivers here don’t seem to understand that pedestrians have the right of way. Also, right-on-red? What is this — target practice for pedestrians?!

I wouldn’t have to wait for the bus. As an aside, if you’re going to run two different buses on a major throughway, maybe you shouldn’t have them run within two minutes of each other, twice an hour. Space ‘em out a little bit Calgary Transit.

Cons

Buying a car would take up a significant portion of my net worth and eat into the capital gains that I enjoy. When I looked to find out more about car loan repayments, I cried silently to myself at the idea of adding $300+ to my monthly budget. I like saving over half my income each month.

I hate pumping gas

Insurance rates in Alberta are through the roof! I’ve had my license for 8 years, have a perfect driving record and I would still need to pay close to $100 a month? Ridiculous.

I don’t think that Calgary is going to be my long-term home and I hesitate to make a major financial purchase that I might not need in a year’s time

What’s a girl to do? On one hand, I really, really want a nice car — maybe not my dream car right now but definitely something with four wheels that goes VROOM — on the other hand, it’s so. terribly. expensive. I look at people in my workplace who have cars and am appalled that they can spend such a large portion of their income on depreciating assets… You make $9 as a server and have a brand new truck? WHAT.

As for car-sharing… *sigh* For privacy reasons, I can’t quite explain why Car2Go isn’t a possibility… Suffice to say, it would probably be more expensive than a car and more of a hassle than if I were to just continue taking the bus.

None, just that the longer you put it off the more you save I think once you get a car it’s hard to go back. I guess I’m lucky that I’m partnered up and we can have one between two NZ Muse recently posted..Surviving a layoff: 2009 vs 2014

Honestly, I would give it another couple months before you make your decision. You mention being nervous at certain intersections; I’m not sure how much anxiety you’re feeling towards the drivers, but given that it was relatively recently that you were hit I’m guessing there may be some involved. I’d watch to see if your level of nervousness decreases over time, or if it stays the same. I’d hate to see you take on such a large liability due to a stress response.Cassie recently posted..(Al)location, (Al)location, (Al)location

Do you plan on taking it to work every day? Are you going to spend most of your time alone in it? Does it make sense to be dragging 4,000 lbs of steel and plastic all over town just to transport your 110 lb body? Someone once compared it to going into a restaurant and ordering 40 main courses when all you need is one. What’s parking cost at your workplace? I live in a small city and people are paying something ridiculous like $40/month (and we’re not even downtown.) The average vehicle doesn’t cost $300 once you factor in car payment + loss of equity from downpayment + loss of gains from potential investments + gasoline + insurance + maintenance/repairs + parking + tickets. It’s a hell of a lot more. The average car chews up 1/3 of a person’s income over time.

I have a love hate with my car. I don’t like how much it costs but at this point it’s required for my job. Le sigh, if you can find a car that won’t have much maintenance I think you’re golden. Or maybe buy a car with those student loans you aren’t paying interest on Janine recently posted..Comment on Maui, Hawaii Days 1-8 by Leigh

You should do whatever you want, but I’m in the no-car camp. We’re working on getting rid of ours now, public transit and walking is just perfect for us. They are so costly to purchase and maintain and crappy for the environment.Erin @ My Alternate Life recently posted..Carving Out Time for My Health

As someone who bought a car while both living and working in the ‘burbs (very NW Calgary and even working in Airdrie at one point) and drove it every day like crazy, and then not even 2 years post-buy now lives 5 minutes from the train and works in a building right at a train station downtown, gah, don’t get a car. You just have no idea where life is going to take you. I think back and I really don’t regret buying my car at all as I really do love my little blue Focus, and I still LOVE to drive (frequently out to the mountains), have family that I like to see that live out of the city by either half hour or 3 hours, and my SO who lives WAY southeast Calgary (a nightmare to get to via transit). After reading your post though, I think your cons outweigh the pros. And yes, insurance here in AB is stupid. Mine’s $139 a month. =(

Also, I would like to recommend not listening to music at all while walking anywhere in Calgary. Just affects the ability to hear cars that could potentially hit you. My most dangerous intersection that I cross is 16th Ave and 19th St NW… cars like to turn left off onto 16th and they try to beat the oncoming traffic and seem to have no care for the people that are crossing even though we have the right of way. I frequently hear and almost FEEL cars driving right behind me, turning into the lane that I just walked across. I get more nervous when it’s icy out. When I drive I don’t even start to turn until the pedestrian is actually off the road, and I don’t care about the person behind me honking at me to go!

I would die without a car- i mean I’ve been there and have done that (you know been careless) and it’s not fun especially out in the country if i had the option to use a transit system i would. I think that you should stick it out until you know exactly what you want and what you are doing in your future. Have a gut feeling ? about buying a car – maybe thats a sign not too.
I would not if i were you. sure time and convince are great – but you might end up spending a bunch in gas repairs and quite frankly begin to be lazier.

If you are stuck on getting a car go for a lower price one.Amber Simpson-Gratton recently posted..To-Do this March